Swimming Lessons
by Candelabra
Summary: Preseries fic, oneshot. Suzaku wants to teach Lelouch how to swim. Lelouch is... displeased to find out they're going skinny-dipping. Shounen-ai/cutesy gay stuff. Slightly shota, but no sexual or explicit content.


**A/N: **Written for yinake for the cg_flashfic comm on livejournal. Just some cutesy preseries stuff between Lelouch and Suzaku (and Nunnally of course).

**Disclaimer: **Not mine.

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"No, we're not doing that." Lelouch's voice was flat and brooked no argument.

Suzaku looked at him, surprised. He hadn't expected so vehement a refusal. "Well, alright," he said, "Maybe tomorrow when it's not so cloudy..."

"No," snapped Lelouch. He was glaring at Suzaku as deeply as he had the first day they met. Suzaku frowned back, beginning to feel irritated.

"Why not?" he asked. "It'll be fun, and it's so hot out — I haven't gone swimming in ages. And the water's really nice — "

Lelouch made a strange noise and gestured angrily behind him to where Nunnally sat against the wall, listening to their conversation with a worried expression on her face. Suzaku blinked, confused.

"Yeah, so? We can take turns holding her — Nunnally, don't you want to go swimming?"

"I..." she frowned a little, obviously upset. "I would love to, but... brother and I, we never... we never..."

"You've never gone swimming?" he said, eyes widening. It was a strange idea to him. Did princes and princesses really not get to enjoy normal kid things like that?

She shook her head. "There was no need to," she explained. "We might have when we were older, but..." And she paused, a pained expression crossing her face.

"Alright, alright," said Suzaku hurriedly, "So you can't swim. Neither of you, right?"

Lelouch shook his head sullenly, glaring at the ground. Suzaku smiled. "Well, that's alright then! I'll just teach you!"

"That's too dangerous, you can't carry Nunnally _and_ teach me," said Lelouch at once. Suzaku waved it off.

"So, so I'll teach you first! Tomorrow, alright? I'll take you both down to the pond and Nunnally can wait on the shore as I teach you! What do you think?"

Lelouch looked to Nunnally. She smiled. "I think that's great, don't you, brother?"

He didn't look like he thought that was a great idea at all, but he agreed anyway.

—

It was very warm the next day. Suzaku prided himself on having guessed the weather right. By the time they reached the pond and helped Nunnally to sit down against a tree, Lelouch was sweating.

Suzaku nodded, satisfied. "Right, then!" he said, and promptly began stripping.

Lelouch made a strangled sort of squeaking noise. When Suzaku turned around to see what the matter was, he was blushing bright red and turning away, half-shielding Nunnally with his body.

"... what?" said Suzaku, pausing in the process of taking off his shirt.

"What — what are you _doing_?" Lelouch fairly shrieked. Nunnally winced a little, and giggled, hiding her mouth behind her hand.

"What is it? What's wrong, brother?" she asked, tilting her head up to him.

Suzaku tossed his shirt on the ground and tilted his head on one side, wondering what was wrong with him. "... we're going swimming," he said, as if that should explain everything.

Lelouch looked over his shoulder at him again, face still very red. "Yeah, but — you can't — "

"Well, I'm not going to get my clothes wet," said Suzaku in a matter-of-fact voice, and started tugging down his pants.

"So... but you shouldn't, in front of a girl..." Lelouch trailed off.

"It's okay, brother," said Nunnally a little meekly. "I... I'm not going to see, or anything, so..."

He pulled away and looked at her very earnestly. "Nunnally..." he began, sounding troubled.

"Come on, get over here," called Suzaku, balling his clothes together and depositing them beside a bush. "Or it'll be lunchtime before I've taught you anything!"

Lelouch turned to reply, and his eyes went very, very wide. "S - Suzaku," he stuttered, flushing a deep red again, "You... you're not wearing... !"

Suzaku blinked at him and then looked down. "No underwear?" he said, guessing Lelouch's problem. Nunnally gasped. "Well, yeah," he shrugged, "I don't want to walk home with wet underpants, either..."

Lelouch appeared to have lost the ability to move properly. He was still half-crouched near Nunnally, who was now turning quite pink herself, looking as though he had no idea what to do or say.

Suzaku backed away toward the water, feeling a bit embarrassed and slightly irritated in spite of himself, now. Geez, why did they have to act like this? It wasn't that strange, was it? Were royal Britannians really so prudish? It made him feel silly.

"Oh, come on," he said, "It's not that big a deal... look, the water's nice and cool!" He dipped one toe in, to demonstrate. Then, unnerved by their lack of response and the scandalized expressions on their face, he splashed right in and flopped onto his back.

Nunnally jumped at that. "Brother," she said. "Brother, just go!"

He looked at her nervously. "But..."

"Go on!" she insisted. "I'll be fine just waiting here."

He stepped away obediently, though she hadn't been completely correct. For once, it hadn't been worry for Nunnally that kept him from taking action — it was sheer embarrassment. Casting a nervous glance at Suzaku, who was now splashing around the little pond with reckless abandon, he pulled his suspenders over his shoulders. Then his shirt, up and over his head — alright, that was fine. He wasn't used to walking around bare-chested but it wasn't anything to worry about. And his shoes, those were perfectly fine. Then his pants, which... weren't too bad. And then...

He looked around. "Suzaku, are you _sure_ there's no one here?" he said worriedly.

Suzaku laughed from the pond. "Yeah, yeah, I'm sure. Just hurry up already!"

Swallowing, he pulled his underwear down in one quick motion and folded it up with his other clothes before walking swiftly to the pond. He entered the water right away, flinching a little at the unexpected cold, and sank down as fast as he could so that only his torso was showing above the water.

Suzaku was laughing at him. "Geez, Lelouch, you're such a prude!"

Lelouch glared back. "Well," he said with as much haughtiness as he could muster, "Are you going to teach me or not? Can you, even?"

"Of course!" said Suzaku, responding to the challenge in typical Suzaku-fashion — by charging right in with no idea of what he was doing.

"Alright," he said, "We'll have to go just a bit deeper..." he stepped farther into the pond. Lelouch followed him, awkwardly half-crawling so as to keep his lower body beneath the surface of the water, and cast a nervous glance over at Nunnally. Suzaku noticed.

"Alright there, Nunnally?" he shouted. He needn't have done so — she wasn't that far away. But she smiled and waved in their general direction.

"Have fun!" she said, and Suzaku turned back triumphantly to her brother.

"Right." he said, getting down to business. They were deep enough now that the water came up to their waists even when they were standing. "What you have to do, is... sort of move your arms about..." — he gestured vaguely in the air — "and kick your feet. Like this." He demonstrated, splashing Lelouch all over with cold water. A moment later he came up for air and nodded at him. "You see?"

Lelouch frowned. "No. You suck at teaching. And what's more, now I'm cold."

"Hey - I'm trying, here!" said Suzaku, a little hurt. "Don't be such a jerk!"

"Then don't be so stupid," Lelouch told him coldly. "I can't figure out what you're doing just by watching — teach me!"

For an answer, Suzaku dunked him head first in the water. When Lelouch came up, gasping for air and spluttering, Suzaku was ready to try again.

"Okay," he said, "So now that you've been in the water — "

Gasp. Choke. Wheeze. "Suzaku!" cried Lelouch, outraged. "You could've drowned me!"

"Nah, nah, you're fine," said Suzaku, waving his concerns aside. "Anyway, I know how to look after you if you're drowning — "

"Brother?" came Nunnally's worried voice from the shore. She was sitting up straight against the tree. "Are you okay, brother?"

Lelouch exchanged a quick glance with Suzaku. "Ah... yeah, I'm fine!" he called back. "Don't worry Nunnally, we're just... playing around!"

"Right," said Suzaku hurriedly, "So, you just have to move your arms like this — "

And there followed a blissfully frustrating time for the two of them as Suzaku tried his best to teach Lelouch and Lelouch tried his best to learn. By midday, Lelouch could do a passable imitation of the doggy paddle, and Suzaku called for a lunch-break.

As they made their way to the shore, they saw that Nunnally had fallen asleep against the tree. Not wishing to disturb her, they lay themselves out on the bank and waited for the sun to dry them so that they could put on their clothes again and eat.

"This won't take long," said Suzaku confidently but quietly. "It's a really warm day."

Lelouch blinked lazily up at the sun, deciding this didn't need a reply.

"Well," continued Suzaku, uncomfortable with the silence, "What do you think? Well worth it, right?"

Lelouch sighed. Why did Suzaku have to ruin everything by talking all the time? "I think that you're a crappy teacher," he said peevishly, but when Suzaku made an indignant and vaguely hurt sound he relented. "But it was fun all the same. And I learned a little."

Suzaku settled back, satisfied. "Good."

There was a blissful silence. Then...

"Suzaku," said Lelouch, a thought occurring to him. "What did you mean, you know how to look after someone that's drowning?"

Suzaku shrugged against the grass. "What I said. My tutors taught me... you're supposed to give them arty - artyfiscal - you're supposed to help them breath."

Lelouch shut his eyes, enjoying the warmth of the sun on his body. He had to admit, going about stark naked had its good points. "How do you do that?" he asked sleepily.

A moment. Then there was the sound of his friend moving, and a shadow fell over him. He opened his eyes to see Suzaku's face very close to his, staring down at him with a rather strange expression. He blinked, eyes focussing. "... Suzaku?"

Suzaku was blushing just a little. "Like this," he said, "You have to breath into their mouth for them, like this..." And he leaned down and gently, carefully pressed his lips against Lelouch's.

Lelouch's eyes went very, very wide, but before he could do or say anything Suzaku had already moved back, blushing hotly. "Come on," he said, "I think we can put on our clothes now."

He went to gather both of their clothes, and when he came back Lelouch was sitting up and very carefully not looking at him.

"You know," said the prince as he took his clothes and started to pull them on again, "I don't think that really works."

Suzaku glanced up at him, confused, in the middle of putting on his shirt. "What do you mean?" he asked, tugging it down over his head.

"I mean," said Lelouch, frowning in concentration as he fidgeted with his suspenders, "I don't think that breathing thing you're talking about really works. For one thing, you didn't breathe into my mouth at all..."

"Oh," said Suzaku, blushing a little again. "Well, there's a bit more to it, I think."

There was a sound from behind him, and they both turned to see that Nunnally had woken up.

"Oh... Suzaku, brother. Are you finished?"

"Yes," said Lelouch, going to her to take the food from her lap. "Suzaku's a terrible teacher, but I figured it out all the same."

"Hey," protested Suzaku, but there was no real feeling behind it. Nunnally giggled, and soon he found himself doing so as well. Even Lelouch joined in after a moment, for no reason other than that they were tired and happy and prone to giggles.

The incident regarding how to save one from drowning was not mentioned, and in unspoken agreement Lelouch and Suzaku never said anything about it afterwards, either.

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**A/N:** Feedback would be greatly appreciated. :)


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